


The Ten-Year Plan

by Marks



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: And not the nicest guy ever!, Costumes, M/M, Reverb's alive!, poor Hartley
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-24
Updated: 2016-10-24
Packaged: 2018-08-24 12:35:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8372476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marks/pseuds/Marks
Summary: Hartley's plotting out his life, but his flow chart has a big old hole in it.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Hartley's just the regular old one, Cisco isn't. :D?
> 
> Written for [Hartmon Holidays](http://hartmonholidays.tumblr.com)' 13 Days of Hartmon. Prompt: costumes, which was a couple of days ago but whatever.

Hartley's coffee was getting cold. Dr. McGee had called him into her offices the other day, giving him a heads-up about a PhD spot at her alma mater. She told him that he'd been nothing but an asset to Mercury since joining her team, and while a PhD program might slow his corporate progress for a time, the lab would pay his tuition and hold a place for him until he got his doctorate. Taking that path would open up a whole new world of possibilities.

Which was how Hartley wound up in Jitters, staring at a flow chart outlining every possible ten year route. No matter which direction he went in, his life now had the potential to be safe, secure, and promising. This was a very new and strange feeling for Hartley, so he felt sort of frozen with indecision.

And then there was the matter of the third, unwritten path.

Hartley had a costume hanging up in his closet, a costume that he promised himself he'd never wear again. Yes, after his short stint in STAR Labs' basement prison, he'd helped Cisco understand how his gauntlets worked and tried not to be too outwardly pleased when Cisco was genuinely impressed by the tech. Then once Cisco understood the science backward and forward, he'd made some suggestions for improvements. Hartley took them all without hesitation, and now the gauntlets worked better than ever.

He wasn't even grudging when he admitted to himself that Cisco really knew his stuff; long gone were the days when Hartley thought Cisco couldn't hack it and Harrison's good feelings about him were stupid because they weren't about Hartley. The fact was Harrison Wells had been excellent at reading people, just not so good at not being a murderous megalomaniac. And he also turned out to be someone else, but that was another matter entirely. The point was Harrison Wells was dead, Hartley had figured out the Time Wraith issue, and the Pied Piper had no reason to exist anymore. For the first time in his whole life, Hartley Rathaway could just be normal.

The doors to Jitters opened suddenly, banging back and making patrons gasp. Hartley looked up. A menacing figure was framed in the doorway, the sunlight streaming in behind him, obscuring who it was. Great. A metahuman attack, just what Hartley needed. That definitely wasn't in the ten-year plan.

Then the menacing figure — definitely a man — looked around and stared straight at Hartley. He had his head tilted to one side, as though he was trying to solve a problem.

" _Cisco_?" Hartley muttered in disbelief. And it was definitely, undeniably Cisco Ramon in one hell of a get-up. He knew Cisco had been sort of idly working on a Vibe costume, but that didn't explain why he was showing up decked out in the middle of the day and causing a scene. Central City was a town primed for panicking at a moment's notice, so what the hell did Cisco think he was he doing?

Hartley leapt up from his table and walked toward the entrance, announcing dramatically, "Look, everyone! It's Vibe, Central City's newest superhero! Thank you for your service. Ladies and gentlemen, let's have a round of applause." Then he manhandled Cisco outside to the sounds of confused clapping from the other Jitters patrons.

"Is something wrong?" Hartley asked, once the doors swung shut behind them. Now that he wasn't dazzled by backlighting, he really got a look at Cisco's costume. It was very different from what Cisco had previously described, which was something in black, red, and yellow to complement Barry's Flash suit. This was black and dark blue and decidedly more 'I listen to Depeche Mode' than Hartley had expected. He'd also done something bizarre with his hair — half up, half down — so maybe this was all to blame on one too many Kurosawa marathons. Cisco took off his Vibe goggles to look at Hartley's hand, which was still wrapped around Cisco's bicep, and dear lord, that was a lot of eye makeup. The effect was pretty startling. "The costume is nice, but not exactly what I expected out of you. Are you just trying extra hard to maintain a secret identity?"

Cisco gave Hartley a long, slow up-and-down look. It was unnerving — both the look and Hartley's reaction to it, which wasn't all negative. He let go of Cisco's arm. "I know you," Cisco said finally. His voice was about an octave lower than usual.

"What? Of course you do, we've known each other for years. Stop covering," Hartley said impatiently. He looked all around and other than the few people wandering in and out of Jitters, no one was around. No one was even paying attention to them.

Cisco was still staring at Hartley, like he was trying to figure him out, making Hartley feel like a butterfly pinned to a card. He didn't like it; he felt too exposed. There was a reason he never went into biology.

"No, we don't know each other," Cisco said dismissively. And then suddenly Hartley understood. His stomach turned to ice. "I mean I've seen you on television. You own Rathaway Industries."

"No, I most definitely do not," Hartley said forcefully.

"Another you then," Not-Cisco said. He snapped his fingers. "Hartley, right?"

Hartley didn't answer.

Not-Cisco reached up and rested his fingers gently on Hartley's throat, not hurting him but still a definite threat. "This is where you say, 'yes, I'm Hartley, pleased to meet you. And you are?'"

Hartley swallowed and dutifully recited, "Yes, I'm Hartley. Pleased to meet you. And you are?"

Not-Cisco shot him a pleased smile. "Good boy. I'm Reverb." At Hartley's sharp inhale, his smile widened. "Oh, so you've heard of me."

"I thought you were dead," Hartley blurted before he could stop himself.

"The rumors of my death were greatly exaggerated," Reverb said. "So much so that I was able to hitch a ride here with Wells' speedster brat and she didn't even notice me coming with. Everyone thinking you're dead is pretty convenient, really."

Hartley lifted his chin. "So are you going to kill me now?"

"I should," Reverb said. "I _really_ should. It probably would be fun. And normally I would, only something's stopping me. See, I don't know how much _you_ know about me, but _I've_ seen myself hundreds of times over. And the reason I remember you from TV is you show up a lot."

"I'm on TV a lot?" Hartley asked.

"No," Reverb clarified. "When looking into other dimensions, there's usually some overlap. The same people show up again and again. And sometimes they're enemies, and sometimes they're friends." He raised his eyebrows at Hartley. "And sometime they're more. It may sound self-centered, but my particular area of interest is Francisco Ramon and, while you're not always there, you show up often enough that I recognized you. The thing is, I'm new to this Earth and I plan on really living life to the fullest. I'm not going to kill you because you might make good leverage somewhere down the road."

That didn't seem right to Hartley. Yes, he and Cisco were colleagues and sometimes they were even sort of friends. But they also used to be enemies and Hartley was horrible to him back then; he just didn't think in the grand cosmic scheme of Cisco's life that he really rated. "Cisco and I aren't anything," Hartley said finally.

Reverb chuckled. "So you're saying that if Cisco threw himself at you, you wouldn't even think about it? The thought would never even cross your mind?"

Hartley stayed silent.

"That's what I thought," Reverb said with some satisfaction. He planted a kiss on Hartley's lips before Hartley could do anything about it. "You can give that to Cisco for me. See you soon, Hartley." Then he stalked away, leaving Hartley staring after him until he was gone from sight.

Hartley sent Cisco a text as soon as the coast was clear: _Just met your doppelgänger. Great look — bad guy. I'll meet you at your lab ASAP._ Then he ran home to dig out the Pied Piper costume in his closet, flow chart to a normal life forgotten along with his coffee.


End file.
